


Unexpected Arrival

by shinyopals



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, POV Jane Foster, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), begrudgingly canon compliant, bite me marvel, jane and thor and an accidental baby, jane and thor are tagged 'it's complicated' on facebook, should have used a condom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 21:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13819482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinyopals/pseuds/shinyopals
Summary: ‘Jane-’ Thor cut himself off, opening and closing his mouth without managing words. Her name on his lips sounded so familiar; warm and deep and like nothing else mattered. An undercurrent of nerves there that she could still hear after all this time, that she didn’t think anyone else would be able to. She wanted to run to him, bury her face in his neck and jump back in time. Back before the break up - not enough time for each other with the universe in peril. Back before thebaby. The baby she still sometimes wondered if she should have terminated to save them both this moment.





	Unexpected Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to [Niobium](http://archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for the read through - particularly since she's seen Thor 3 and I have not!

Silence reigned. 

Jane focussed her eyes on Thor, with his strange, short hair and patch on one eye and _age_ on his face like she’d never believed she’d ever see. He didn’t close the distance between them, instead stood stock-still, staring at the bundle in her hands. 

The large, dingey room of the ship had space for hundreds of people, but there were only about thirty in there, and at first glance they were all of them strangers except Thor himself. They had been turned to Thor, talking and arguing about their arrival on Midgard - he was at the center, as he always was - but then Thor’s silent paralysis had seemed to ripple through the crowd as they too had turned to the interruption from Jane and the Avengers. Jane sucked in a breath. She hated people. She hated people staring. She hated them staring _at her_. She tried to stop herself from shaking and not drop her eyes.

At last, she recognised Heimdall, out of his golden armour, and he smiled gently at her even as his eyes seemed to pierce right through her. She relaxed ever so slightly. Heimdall was safe and familiar in ways even Thor himself wasn’t, not any more. Then her eyes fell a little behind Thor and in the shadows, and she froze again. There was the thin, pale face of Loki, alive and staring at her just like everyone else, eyes calculating. She shivered. 

Thor made to move and then stopped himself. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her: too pale and thin at the face, and in lumpy, unflattering clothes, perhaps. Too bone-tired from single-mothering an alien after a pregnancy that had nearly killed her, the subtext. Carrying a burden that he hardly needed when they’d not even been able to manage a relationship.

Another stifled motion. ‘Jane-’ He cut himself off, opening and closing his mouth without managing words. Her name on his lips sounded so familiar; warm and deep and like nothing else mattered. An undercurrent of nerves there that she could still hear after all this time, that she didn’t think anyone else would be able to. She wanted to run to him, bury her face in his neck and jump back in time. Back before the break up - not enough time for each other with the universe in peril. Back before the _baby_. The baby she still sometimes wondered if she should have terminated to save them both this moment.

In her arms, Andromeda started to whimper, breaking the silence.

‘Oh!’ said Jane, looking down at her baby. ‘Hi sweetie,’ she cooed, as normally as she could. Just because she wanted to cry it didn’t mean her kid had to know it. Big blue eyes stared up at her as Andromeda grizzled. Jane understood. She looked up at Thor. ‘She’s-’

‘-Hungry.’ Thor’s voice came in chorus with hers and her heart leapt. 

‘I know,’ he said. ‘I can feel-’ He indicated to the side of his head.

‘Wait, what?’ said Tony. He turned to Jane. ‘Your baby is so well-behaved because she’s _psychic_? And you didn’t think to mention this?’ Jane was grateful that he and the Avengers had given her a lift up to the ship, but found herself kinda wishing he’d piss off.

‘It is normal for children to make their needs known to their parents,’ said Thor. ‘They typically lose this ability as they grow and begin to learn speech.’

_Parents._ Plural. Her heart twisted and she tried not to cry. In her arms, Andromeda’s whimpers got louder.

‘Beautiful though meeting this poorly-timed addition to our family is-’ came the familiar sarcastic drawl of Loki. _Our family._ Her stomach lurched again, but this time with nausea. She tightened her grip on Andromeda and stepped backwards, even as she heard Tony and Rhodey move towards her protectively. Loki, however, ignored this and kept speaking to Thor without pause. ‘-And I must say, brother, you’ve surpassed yourself: Asgard fallen at the hands of our dear, fortunately dead, maniac of a sister; the mystery of the stones still unsolved; and you apparently forgot to use protection-’ He turned back to Jane, ‘Can you _please_ hurry and feed the child before it gives me a headache?’ Jane narrowed her eyes. Thor rounded on his brother, eyes dark.

Then from the edge of the room, scruffy and in need of a shave, Bruce Banner of all people ambled into view. ‘Hi Jane,’ he said. ‘You look well.’

‘Uh. Hi.’

Loki flinched at his arrival and edged backwards. Jane saw Thor let out a breath as she felt herself do the same.

‘Speaking of headaches, why is he even here?’ demanded Tony. ‘Loki, I mean. Obviously. Not you, Bruce. How have you been, buddy? We’ve missed you!’ Bruce waved a little nervously, although remained with the alien group for now, ever so casually still a wall between Jane and Loki.

‘Wait, shut up, Tony,’ said Rhodey, then he looked back to Thor. ‘You have a crazy sister now? Like, there is someone in your family even worse than him, and we are just _now_ hearing about it?’

‘And you say your world has “fallen”?’ asked T’Challa. ‘What exactly does that mean?’ He too stepped forward into the group around Jane. As did Vision, Peter and Maria.

‘Wait, no, you guys are right, how is Loki apparently not even the worst part of this?’ added Tony. ‘Is your family not enough of a problem already? It’s great to see you but why the hell did you come back to Earth?’ Thor ignored him and Loki smiled thinly.

Andromeda’s crying started to get louder. 

All were fair questions, but suddenly Jane didn’t really care. All at once there seemed to be hundreds more people pressing around her and she blinked to try and clear her brain. She knew the pressure was in her head, not anywhere else, but she needed out. This was too much right now. Too many people and too many questions and too many _feelings_. She needed- well, she needed to look after Andromeda. Somewhere _quiet_. A nice, easy, practical task. Unbutton shirt. Open bra. Feed baby. Watch baby get happier and calmer. Feel happier and calmer too. Maybe think about math.

And then talk to Thor - not in front of Tony, the Avengers, Bruce, fucking _Loki_ , and a whole bunch of random strangers - about what the actual fuck was going on.

‘Are you all right to feed her?’ asked Thor, his voice the only thing cutting through her brain. ‘Do you need…?’ He seemed uncertain what she might need.

‘Look, I’ve got way more comfortable with getting my shirt off around strangers since I had her, but I’d rather not breastfeed _in front of your goddamned brother_.’ Her voice rose in pitch outside of her control as she spoke. She broke off and took a breath before resuming. ‘Have you got somewhere I can go that’s private?’

Loki blinked at her. ‘Why do I matter?’

‘Midgardian standards of modesty,’ said Thor evenly.

‘ _Really_?’ snapped Jane.

But Thor hadn’t looked to his brother as he spoke. Instead he’d at last stepped forward, crossing the gap between them, letting himself into her space. He put an arm behind her back, solid and immovable and blocking off her view of half the room, like he’d already worked out she was halfway to a panic attack and remembered exactly what she needed. His sudden arrival in her orbit jolted her and she leaned into him out of some long-forgotten habit. She felt his hand tighten around her waist almost imperceptibly. ‘I’ll take you to my room.’

‘OK,’ she managed, though it sounded a bit like a croak.

Thor looked back over his shoulder. ‘Loki, please welcome our guests properly,’ he said. ‘Offer them a drink, perhaps.’

‘Sorry, what?’ 

‘ _What_?’ Tony and Rhodey in tandem sounded even more horrified than Loki, and Jane found herself stifling a laugh despite everything.

‘You wished to retain your rank,’ Thor said, addressing Loki dismissively. ‘Do your duty in my absence. Though perhaps do not take any further calls from the United Nations unless you wish to wear my face while you do so. Bruce, Brunnhilde, Heimdall, please help my brother to host my friends.’

With that, he walked Jane and Andromeda away without a backward glance, ignoring spluttered protests from just about everyone.

Out in the corridors of the ship, Jane allowed herself a small smile up at Thor. ‘You’re gonna come back to a Hulk-sized hole in this thing.’

‘I think not,’ said Thor sedately. ‘I think only a Loki-sized hole.’

At that, she laughed properly. ‘Did you do that just to mess with them all?’ His one visible eye sparkled with poorly suppressed mirth, and they shared a proper smile for the first time in forever. For a second, pausing in her walk, Jane made to reach for him-

Andromeda, who’d quieted with what Jane guessed had to be the psychic sense that food was coming soon, seemed to realise she was no longer the centre of attention and let out a wail.

‘Shhh, _mami_ ,’ said Jane softly, reaching to stroke Andromeda’s sparse blonde hair as she resumed walking. ‘We’re nearly there. I hope we’re nearly there, anyway.’

‘We are,’ said Thor, as he led her into an elevator-thing, hauled the door shut, and pulled a lever to set them moving upwards. It was surprisingly low-tech, for Asgard. He stepped towards Jane then hesitated for a moment. ‘May I-?’ He hadn’t gestured to take Andromeda, only to touch, and Jane nodded. Thor reached out with one hand and, ever so slowly, shaking just slightly, stroked Andromeda’s face, running his fingers across her cheeks and then down her nose. Andromeda watched him, now silent. Did she know him? She had to, surely, if he knew she was hungry. Had she known he was missing from her life? The thought terrified Jane. That her baby might have some awareness of what she was missing…. Thor finally placed his hand around Andromeda’s body to hold her to Jane, his fingers brushing Jane’s own as he did and making Jane suck in a breath. 

‘I missed you,’ she said, without thinking.

She saw him swallow. His hand shifted against hers deliberately then, warm and familiar, and he looked up from the baby to her, holding her gaze. 

‘Jane-’ he began, voice low and warm and all for her. She felt her cheeks go pink. He leaned forward. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart was thumping in her ears.

Andromeda let out a loud, high-pitched demand for food, making both of them jump.

Thor looked back down to her. ‘Hush, little _krúttið_ ,’ he said softly. ‘I cannot speed our journey. Soon you shall be fed, and your-- mother shall be seated and comfortable. And then… I hope I might begin to get to know you.’

Something inside Jane crumbled, and for a moment she didn’t trust herself to speak.

‘I think...’ she managed at last, voice wavering, ‘I think we can do that.’

Again, the tiniest twitch in his arms, seemingly unconscious, pulling her and Andromeda into him like they belonged. And maybe, one day soon… but she couldn’t think about that. 

First, food. Food, and quiet, and only about five million questions about what the hell had happened. And then, perhaps - in and amongst what were apparently tales about the end of Asgard, Thor having a damn sister he’d somehow never mentioned, and fucking Loki _not being dead_ and somehow _hanging out with Thor_ like it was no big deal - she might dare to ask what next. Something told her it was going to be a complicated few years.


End file.
